That advice had been what Payton needed to hear at the time. After leaving Mike, she’d spent the better part of a year boohooing about the state of her life and marriage. She’d needed someone to tell her to limit herself to five minutes at a time, then move on. People didn’t like their food delivered by a red eyed, nose running, uncontrollably crying waitress.
Payton retrieved her knives. She stared at them in her hands. Could she have really stabbed him? Not with hands shaking as bad as these.
She started to store them in her fanny pack, but the thought of not having them ready made her nauseous. What if someone else stepped out to say, “hi”?
She glanced around. Nothing but the nosy monkeys and some birds.
“Did you all enjoy the show?” A bird squawked. “You could’ve helped. Provided a distraction so I could get to safety.”
She wanted to laugh. Safe meant knowing where she was, why, and the intended outcome. She didn’t know any of that.
I will never be safe here.
Payton sniffed and wiped the last of the wetness from her cheeks.
Time to buck up.
Fueled by determination, she stood and wiped at her clothes. In the short amount of time she’d been sitting, a few bugs had decided to climb across her.
“I’m glad none of the others saw me freeze, then lose it,” she muttered to herself. The others didn’t need to know she wasn’t a badass chick, which was how she’d tried to portray herself.
She laughed crazily. All she’d done was carved some sticks for them and run the first chance she got. They didn’t see her as bad ass.
But they’d never seen her scared. Never let anyone know you’re scared.
The thought gave her pause. It was such a crazy thing to focus on. Who was she trying to pretend brave for? Esme? Ben? Danny? Min? Miranda? Kaylin? Yesenia? The petrified folks she’d just gotten off the line with?
She was on an alien planet for Christ sake, and she didn’t want strangers who’d been abducted along with her to think she was scared? Hell, she was beyond scared.
“Hey, guys!” she yelled with her head tilted up to the sky. “Guess what? I’m scared!”
Jack danced around her and barked. She was happy to know that if she went crazy, Jack would gladly ride the crazy train with her.
She scrubbed behind his ears. “That’s my good boy.”
She didn’t know Ben and those other guys and shouldn’t, no, didn’t, have anything to prove. That was another thing Dr. Rebecca had tried to make her understand. It didn’t matter what other people thought of her. She was more than just a high school dropout who’d been stuck in an abusive relationship for the last eleven years.
Just before she’d awakened in this hellhole, she’d been pondering skipping her next call-in session. She’d thought she was beyond the bi-weekly chats with a therapist. But since she was standing in the middle of nowhere, wondering if a group of strangers thought she was a badass or not, maybe she wasn’t ready.
I guess I owe Dr. Rebecca a call.
Something hit her head then bounced off to fall on her shoulder. She startled, and the item fell to the ground. It was red with small bite marks in it. She looked up to find an alien monkey staring at her. If she didn’t know better, she would think it was happy.
“It would’ve been nice if you had pelted the other guy!”
Payton scrubbed a hand down her face. First things first, get moving. I can’t let that guy find me again.
She glanced at her wristband. If she hadn’t frozen she would’ve used one to get away as soon as that guy stepped in front of her. But now was a good as time as any to escape again. She stopped short from pressing the icon. Before there were three lines, now there were only two.
Crap. It would’ve been nice to have known she only had three chances to use the damn thing. Maybe that’s what Ben was trying to tell her when she’d left?
“I guess we’re walking, buddy.”
Jack wagged his tail.
She took her cell phone out of her fanny pack. She only had eighty-five percent battery. She’d turned it on once to discover, like everyone else in camp, she didn’t have any service or bars. Payton turned it on now and took a picture of the alien monkey and a few of the nearby birds. No one would believe she was here, but at least she had the pictures to prove she wasn’t crazy.
“I should’ve taken a picture of that guy.”
Hey, I know you want to drink my blood or something, but can you make a duck mouth, hold up two fingers and say cheese?
Yeah right.
She turned off her phone and stored it again. She then gave the alien monkey her middle finger, and he threw something else at her. This time she sidestepped out of the way.
Payton led Jack through a group of trees and kept going. Darkness fell on her, but stars twinkled, illuminating her path just enough for her to see without fearing they would hurt themselves. Odd noises were abundant. Animals screeched at her. Things she couldn’t see scurried by. She pushed down her fear and led them on.
Whenever she reached a break in the trees, she stopped and pressed the icon on her wristband, calling for a food ball. She stored what she and Jack didn’t eat in her fanny pack and soon, when she couldn’t fit anything else in there, she stuffed them in her wet bra. Even at night, the heat was sweltering.
Five hours into their trek and the landscape changed from dense jungle to rocky landscape. Jagged rocks of different sizes seemed to grow straight from the ground. She took another hour to explore the nooks and crannies, finding hiding spots big and small. She memorized them all, thinking they might come in handy. Especially if that guy tried to approach her again. The next time—if there was a next time—she would run.
Payton finally settled in a spot that was a tunneled out hole in the ground by a large tree. She had to slide into the space. Barely able to hold her eyes open any longer, she curled into a ball and pulled Jack to her.
She’d survived today. If she was smart, she would survive tomorrow too.
“DEAR HUNTERS. AS YOU all may well know, we experienced a mechanical glitch in the timing system. This triggered the evening alarm and retrieval system to end The Hunt prematurely. Please be informed that we have made the necessary corrections and have applied credits to every hunter’s account to reflect the missed time in the gaming arena. We hope you enjoy the rest of your visit on Turolois and in The Hunt!”
Themba stared at the message that awaited him back in his suite. His heart still beat erratically, and his breathing was uncontrolled. He’d never felt anything like it before. This must’ve been how his ancestors felt when they’d hunted and stalked prey. Why had they ever given this up to become domesticated?
Themba prowled through his room, unable to bring himself down from his high. If he hadn’t been forced back, he could’ve stayed in the jungle all night long. The new sights and smells and sensations awakened such primal needs within him. But the one experience he would surely never forget was meeting a human.
Themba hadn’t intended to engage the prey today. Instead, he’d planned to survey the Level One arena and enjoy running free without a single care in the world.
That had quickly changed when he’d picked up her scent and his thoughts were dominated by it. It was easy to find her. She’d left a trail of broken grass blades, cut down tree branches and droplets of sweat covering every tree and bush she’d passed.
Her scent had been like a beacon to him, urging him on.
He’d followed her, just to get a glimpse of a human and not because her scent mesmerized him, he’d told himself. But when he’d seen her, he’d been more intrigued than ever. Her coloring was lighter than his, but he liked the red splotches on her face, arms, and thighs. Her face was different, yet appealing. The clothes she wore left little to the imagination. Her breasts swung pendulously, his eyes entranced by them, as she hacked at everything in her path.
Hack. Swing. Hack. Swing.
He’d groaned low in his throat as he�
��d watched. His cocks grew and strained against his tight-fitting clothing.
Themba had thought to stay hidden. But when she’d offered her challenge, he couldn’t help himself.
She was a beautiful specimen. But he knew instantly why the Okuthyu protected her species. She was frail though she’d tried to project fierceness. She was strong, yet delicate too. She was brave and also vulnerable. He’d immediately wanted to protect her from any harm that might come her way.
His brother’s words repeated in his head.
“Catch and release.”
He’d wanted to catch. But not release. He’d wanted her for his very own.
And if it hadn’t been for the error in the timing system, he might’ve been in the processing center with his prey by now.
His.
Chapter Six
Shriek! Shriek! Shriek!
Payton’s eyes flew open. Her heart stopped. She couldn’t breathe. Jack’s nails scratched and tore into her skin as he tried to scramble away from her hold.
Mike’s coming for me!
She blinked away the last of her drowsiness fast and wrapped her arms tightly around Jack. His body shook within her grip. Where were they? A hole? She furrowed her brow, trying to think over the alarm.
Alarm.
Then it all came rushing back to her.
Alien planet. Jungle. Shock collar. Alien. Hiding.
She recovered quickly. “Shh,” she whispered.
Jack stilled.
This was the second time she’d been rudely awakened by a shrieking alarm, and like the first day, she hadn’t been ready for it. Each time she’d thought the worst. Mike had found her.
Almost a year ago, when she’d gotten comfortable in a little off-the-grid town in Montana, she’d woken up to Mike straddling her and banging pots above her head. “Get up! Guess who I found!”
Mike had nothing to do with the alarm currently killing her eardrums, but it invoked the same amount of panic. She’d lived through that.
I will live through this too.
The shrieking stopped, but in no way did she believe the danger passed. When the alarm sounded last night, one of those pods came and took the alien guy away. If the same logic could be applied...
The guy would be back.
“It’s important to stay off the grid.” Payton saw Linda’s face clearly in her head. Linda was the older African-American woman who’d managed the mechanic shop where Payton had worked as a receptionist.
Linda hadn’t batted an eyelash when Payton had arrived in the middle of the day, after missing opening the shop in the morning. She’d listened as Payton tearfully asked for her last check and apologized for quitting without notice. Then, Linda had pushed a white envelope across her desk.
She’d only been working at the shop for four months, trying to make extra cash so she wouldn’t have to ask Mike for money.
“He’ll be able to track you through your jobs. All it takes is a downloadable report from the internet, and he’ll find out where you’re working and living. Any job you get from now on out will have to pay you under the table.”
Linda and the guys didn’t know her all that well. Payton had taken painstaking measures to assure that. She made small talk with everyone, but refused any after work bar hops and didn’t mention her home life or family at all.
The less they knew. The better.
Payton nodded. Her eyes swollen with tears. Linda was anything but stupid. Although Payton had tried desperately to hide what went on at home; sometimes she would move a certain way, and the collar of her shirt would slip and reveal the red fingerprints on her neck, or she would reach, and the sleeve of her shirt would move to show the bruises on her arms.
Linda had asked her about some of the bruises before, but Payton shut her down and she never brought it up again. She’d hoped Linda would forget about it.
“Do you have any money in the bank?”
Payton shook her head. “That was my first stop.”
She’d emptied out her account, as meager as it was. Mike had the main account with all of the money in it, but she didn’t have access to that one.
Linda nodded thoughtfully, then reached in her drawer and gave Payton another envelope.
Payton frowned at it. “I don’t understand. If this is my check. Then what is this?”
“I was holding that for you, hoping one day...”
Pride made Payton want to refuse. But she couldn’t. She took the envelope, and when she felt how thick it was, tears poured down her face. She realized then that Linda had been waiting to give her the envelope full of cash. A small cry burst from Payton’s mouth.
“I’ll make a call to the corner store. They’ll cash your paycheck for you, no questions asked. I’ll ask Joe to wave the three percent check cashing fee.”
Payton nodded as the tears streamed freely down her cheeks.
“You’ll have to scale down your lifestyle to stay out of his reach. You’ll need to rent places from landlords who don’t keep rental records. It’s going to be hard, honey. But you can do it. When you get to wherever you’re going, you call the number on the card in the envelope. They’ve helped me when I needed it. They’ll help you too. They have really good people on staff you can talk to for free. Believe me, you’ll need someone to talk to. It’s going to be lonely for a while.”
She hadn’t talked to Linda since, but she thanked her every day for helping her.
If I can hide from Mike and all the private investigators he sent after me, I can hide from whoever is after me here.
Granted, this wasn’t the same situation. But there was a guy out there stalking her. She would figure it out.
“You’re so stalkable.”
Payton humphed. He would find she really wasn’t. Now that she knew what was up.
Stay off the grid. Lay low. Fly under the radar.
That guy had sniffed the air when he’d talked to her. As crazy as it sounded, he might’ve been attracted to her scent.
“My blood likes you.”
On second thought. Nope. Not crazy at all.
Payton tried to lift her arm but didn’t have enough room. She settled on dropping her chin to sniff her armpit. God. She reeked.
After not bathing for four days and baking in the sun, she smelled ripe. Maybe he liked smelly women?
From her hiding hole, she spotted a water source. It was larger than a puddle, but not by much. She maneuvered to peek her head out and finding it all clear, hauled out and crawled to the water.
Jack’s nails clicked against the rocks as he followed. He panted. He was hot and thirsty. The sun beat down on them like they owed it money. She pushed the food icon on her wristband. While she’d hoarded food for them, she hadn’t kept one of the water canvases that came with the food. Without a strap, there’d been nowhere to store it.
Nothing happened.
She frowned and pushed it again. Same result.
She didn’t have food available to her anymore? Well, that’s just great.
Growling, she rolled to sit on her butt. She had six protein bars on her, but how long would that last? Not long.
Jack dipped to sniff the waterhole. Should they drink it? Before Payton had time to decide, Jack lapped it up.
He was a dog. She often had to pull Jack away from drinking storm drain water. His stomach would survive. But hers? Probably not.
Prickly heat spread across her scalp and sweat dripped down her forehead. She glanced at the sky. Still alien. The sun loomed over her like a fiery orange ball. So close. So hot.
She didn’t have to drink anything now, but sooner or later she would have to hope her intestinal system could fight off alien microbes. For now, she just prayed her skin would survive the sun without blistering.
Payton lowered herself in the water, clothes on. Without soap, there was only so much she could do. She scrubbed her clothes against her skin, then used her fingers to loosen the dirt from the fabric. The once clear water was now dirty.
Danger.
A man came into view. He was tall, maybe closer to seven feet. His over-sized barrel of a chest tapered to a narrow abdomen. Brown skin stretched over muscular thighs. His outfit consisted of feathers and beads that hung from him in what Payton could only describe as ceremonial dress. He carried a wooden staff that had colorful designs on it and wore a headdress with bright feathers, complete with a metal beak. She couldn’t see his face, but when he turned to peer at her, his eyes were round and dark. No sclera.
Payton jerked back. There was nowhere to run. She grabbed Jack’s collar and pushed for a pod. Nothing.
She glanced toward her right. Her weapons were close, but could she reach the knives before the alien reached her?
“Not mine,” the alien grumbled, then turned his attention away and disappeared in the opposite direction he’d come in.
I have to hide.
Payton hauled herself from her bath and slid back into her hiding hole with Jack. Water dripped from her body, and she was instantly dirty again. But she would take being dirty over meeting that guy again any day.
Sadly, her earlier suspicion was confirmed. During the day, things walked freely.
Her stomach twisted in fear. “I guess we’re staying here until it gets dark, buddy,” she whispered to Jack.
Payton settled in, getting comfortable, as much as she could. She couldn’t see a lot from her hole, only the sky and a small snippet of the greenery. She kept her eyes trained, watching for anything else that came through.
“Now, if we see something, don’t make any noise,” she whispered. “We’ll have to be quiet and let whatever passes, to do it without finding us, okay?”
Jack grunted, and she kissed him lightly on his head. She’d really lucked out that he was with her. Because while she had Jack, Miranda had her two young children and they were out there somewhere encountering the same scary aliens.
Hunted by the Alien Prince Page 5